Study on Regenerative Chatter Vibration in End Mill Operation (2nd Report)

Experimental Analysis of Chatter Stability Limit in Side Cutting

Abstract

This paper deals with the experimental analysis on the stability of a regenerative chatter vibration in end mill operation. A series of side cutting tests carried out under various cutting conditions and vibration characteristics of an end mill in order to investigate the influence on the chatter stability limit. The results obtained are as follows : (1) An unstable region on a surface generated by one cutting was examined and it agreed approximately with the theoretical result. (2) Low cutting speed and large feed rate increases the chatter stability. However, width of cut and depth of cut has almost no effect on the chatter stability in usual cutting condition. (3) The chatter stability in down milling is lower than that in up milling. (4) High helix angle of the cutting edge increases the chatter stability. (5) The experimental values of the chatter stability limit agree well with the theoretical results. As a result of this, the validity of the theoretical analysis was confirmed.